Resilient roll controlling railway car side bearings

ABSTRACT

A device for positively establishing a maximum allowable roll angle for a railway car, without detracting from the capability of the car to move, in a horizontal plane, relative to its trucks. The device utilizes a strong but yet resilient rubberlike material in limiting the roll of the car. In some instances, the material is combined with shock absorbing coil springs, in others, it serves, itself, as the roll limiter, and still in another, the material is combined with a plurality of steel cylinders.

D United States Patent 1151 3,6 70,66 1 Pangalila 14 1 June 20, 1972 54]RESILIENT ROLL CONTROLLING 1,832,184 11/1931 Christen 293/85 RAILWAY CARSIDE BEARINGS 1,032,454 7/1912 Wainwright ..267/33 2,247,543 7/1941Bernstein 267/152 X Inventor: Frans Pangalila, Matawan 1,179,755 4/1916Price et al.. .308/138 Town-5111p Ni 1,807,451 5/1931 Stebbins ....308/6R 73 A inc: h MMulln Assoc I N 1,810,718 6/1931 Lord IDS/199R 1 SS g e{f lf f e a cw 2,039,759 5/1936 Webb ..267/4 x Filed: March 2, 1970Primary Examiner-Arthur L. La Point Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran[21] Appl' 15809 Attorney-Fleit, Gipple & Jacobson [52] U.S. Cl..l05/l99 A, 105/164, 105/199 CB, [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int Cl B6 32 4 2; SA device for positively establishing a maximum allowable roll [58]Fie'ld 105N951 199 C A 199 F angle for a railway car, without detractingfrom the capabili 105,164 308/6 R of the car to move, in a horizontalplane, relative to its trucks. The device utilizes a strong but yetresilient rubber-like material in limiting the roll of the car, In someinstances, the material is combined with shock absorbing coil springs,in [56] References cued others, it serves, itself, as the roll limiter,and still in another,

UNITED STATES PATENTS the material is combined with a plurality of steelcylinders.

2,327,954 8/1943, Barrows et al ..308/138 21 Claims, 7 Drawing FiguresPATENTEDJUM20 m2 3.670.661

' sum 10F 2 INVENTOR FRANS V. A. PANGALILA BY N PATENTEDmzo m2 3, 670661 sum 2 or 2 FIG. 5

INVENTOR Fl 6. 7 72 FRANS v. A. PANGALILA BY 0\/ I @Z/ ATTORNEYSRESILIENT ROLL CONTROLLING RAILWAY CAR SIDE BEARINGS BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION In my copending US patent application Ser. No. 9,927 filed onFeb. 9, 1970, entitled ROLL LIMITER FOR RAIL- WAY CARS and assigned tothe present assignee, I pointed out the importance of providing rolllimiters with the capability of allowing relative motion, in ahorizontal plane, between the car and its associated trucks. Because ofthe particular configurations described in my copending patentapplication, however, the roll limiters are required to be made ofmaterials having extremely high impact strengths. That is, because theembodiments described in my copending patent application rely uponmetal-to-metal contact to limit the roll of railway cars, the metallicelements must be of great strength lest they will shatter under thesubstantial impacts and loads exerted by the railway car. This, ofcourse, increases the ultimate cost of the limiter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a simple butstrong, reliable and yet relatively inexpensive roll limiter forpositively defining a maximum angle through which a railway car isallowed to roll. At the same time, the limiter of the present inventionpermits free relative motion, in a horizontal plane, between the car andits associated trucks, this feature avoiding stress on the limiter whenthe car traverses curves. More specifically, the inventive device isconstructed, in a certain embodiment, both of metallic members and ofrubber-like members having exceptional strength characteristics and yetbeing quite resilient in nature. In other embodiments, only therubber-like material is used. The particular resilient material employedin the present invention is produced by Disogren Industries ofManchester, New Hampshire, and the material is sold under the tradenameof DISOGREN. I

In one embodiment of the invention, the maximum roll angle is defined bya shock absorbing coil spring wound about a block of strong but yetresilient material, the material being positioned so as to separate eachcoil of the spring from its neighboring coils. In this way,metal-to-metal contact is avoided. In an alternate configuration of thisembodiment, the shock absorbing coil spring is itself coated with thestrong, resilient rubber-like material.

In a second embodiment, a block of the same rubber-like materialdiscussed above serves, itself, as the roll limiter. Holes are drilledin the block of material to allow for free movement between the car andits trucks, or, alternatively, the entire central region of the block isremoved.

In a third embodiment of the present invention, two blocks of strong andresilient material are separated from one another through the means of aplurality of steel cylinders. This assembly is held together as a singleunit, is mounted on the truck of a railway car and serves as a positiveroll limiter. The cylinders are allowed to roll and thus free movementbetween the car and its trucks is allowed. If desired, the lastembodiment may be supplemented by the addition of shock absorbing coilsprings for reducing the impact experienced by the blocks of theresilient material. Further, if desired, at least a portion of one ofthe blocks may be provided with holes, thereby increasing the resiliencyof the block and thereby reducing the impact shock caused by the car.

Accordingly, it is the main object of the present invention to provide astrong and reliable device for positively limiting the roll of a railwaycar while allowing relative motion, in a horizontal plane, between thecar and its associated trucks.

It is another object of the present invention to positively limit theroll of railway cars in a relatively inexpensive manner by employing ashock absorbing member of an extremely strong and yet resilientrubber-like material, with or without the addition of metallic supportmembers.

These and other objects of the invention, as well as many of theattendant advantages thereof, will become more readily apparent whenreference is made to the following description taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of the firstembodiment of the present invention when mounted on one truck of arailway car;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section of the roll limiter embodied in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an alternate configuration of the embodiment illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-section of a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is an alternate configuration of the limiter illustrated in FIG.4;

FIG. 6 is a crosssection of a third embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 7 is an alternate configuration of the limiter illustrated in FIG.6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2,the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. Arailway car 2 is shown mounted, in a conventional way, on a set of twotrucks 3 (only one being shown). The roll limiter of the presentinvention is shown generally at 10, is adjustably mounted on one truck4, and comprises, basically, a shock absorbing coil spring 12surrounding a block of strong, resilient rubber-like material 14. Thespring 12 and the material 14 are associated in such a manner that thematerial separates each coil of the spring 12 from its neighbor coils.An adjustable mounting plate 16 serves to mount the roll limiter on thetruck 4 of the railway car 2, and an impact pad 18 defines the areawhich is to be contacted by the rolling car.

Due to resilience of the coil spring 12 and the block of material 14,the impact pad 18 is allowed to move, in a horizontal plane, relative tothe mounting plate 16. In this manner, relative motion may take placebetween the car and its associated trucks even when the car, certain ofits trucks, and the roll limiter are in direct contact. And, because thecoils of the spring 12 are isolated from one another by means of therubber-like material 14, the possibility of damage to the spring bymetal-to-metal contact is avoided.

In FIG. 3, an alternate of the first embodiment of the present inventionis shown. A shock absorbing coil spring 20 is coated with a layer of thestrong but resilient rubber-like material described above. The materialcoating is shown at 22. A mounting plate 24 serves to couple the rolllimiter to the as sociated truck of the car to be stabilized, and animpact pad 26 serves as a contact surface between the roll limiter andthe rolling car.

In FIG. 4, the second embodiment of the present invention isillustrated. The roll limiter is shown generally at 30. In thisembodiment, a block of the strong resilient rubber-like material 32serves as the basic element in the roll limiter. A mounting plate 34 isprovided to affix the limiter 30 to the appropriate truck of the railwaycar. The block of material 32 is provided with a plurality of holes 36which may be molded into the material or, alternatively, may be drilledout of the material.

With the last described configuration, the above-noted disadvantagesassociated with metal-to-metal contact surfaces in reducing roll areavoided. The block of resilient material 32 serves the function of rolllimiting. The holes 36 in the material 32 assist in this function in twoways. First, the holes 36 increase the resiliency of the material 32. Inthis manner, the material 32 reacts less to impact shocks, and theassociated car is better cushioned from the point of view of cargo orpassengers. And second, the provision of holes 36 makes it possible forthe upper surface of the block of material 32 to move, in a horizontalplane, relative to the mounting plate 34. Therefore, the holes make itpossible for the car to move freely with respect to its associatedtrucks, even when there is direct con tact between the car, the limiterand the truck.

Under certain circumstances, the roll limiter may be designed using lessmaterial than the roll limiter shown in FIG. 4. When it is possible toso design the limiter, it may take the configuration illustrated in FIG.5.

The limiter of FIG. 5 comprises a block of material 40 mounted on thetruck of a railway car by means of a mounting plate 42. A portion of theblock 40 is cut from the center, thus defining a hole 44. This limiterfunctions as does the limiter shown in FIG. 4 but is adapted for usewhen smaller impacts are expected.

Now, with reference to FIG. 6, the third embodiment of the presentinvention will be described. The roll limiter is shown generally at 50and comprises, basically, a first block of strong, resilient rubber-likematerial 52, a second block of the same material 54, and a plurality ofcylinders 56, as of steel, positioned between the first and secondblocks 52 and 54. A pair of biasing springs 58 are provided to ensureunity between the blocks of resilient material and the steel cylinders.A mounting plate 60 serves to fasten the roll limiter 50 to a giventruck of a railway car.

, In operation, the limiter of FIG. 6 functions as follows. When the carcontacts the upper block 54, during a straighttrack roll cycle, the rollof the car is abruptly halted. When the car contacts the block 54 duringa curve, the roll is again halted, but another motion is involved. Thecar attempts to move, in a horizontal plane, with respect to its trucks.With the present invention, the upper block 54 is allowed to roll alongthe cylinders 56, in a horizontal plane, and thus the car is allowedfree horizontal movement with respect to its associated trucks.

To ensure that the steel cylinders 56 always return to a predeterminedrest position with respect to the blocks 52 and 54, one of the blocks isprovided with a number of cylindrical depressions 62 equal in number tothe number of cylinders. In FIG. 6, the depressions 62 are provided inthe lower block 52. Also, to allow free rolling motion between thecylinders 56 and the depressions 62, a non-stick plate 64 may beprovided in the depressions 62. In this manner, free rotation of thecylinders 56 is permitted.

In the embodiment last described, the impact stress is take up by onemember and relative motion between the car and the truck is ensured byanother. That is, the impact of the railway car on the limiter 50 istaken up by the resilient blocks of material 52 and 54. The relativemotion between the car and its associated trucks is, on the other hand,made possible by the interaction between the lower plate 52, cylinders56 and the upper plate 54. When the car attempts to move horizontallywith respect to its truck, the upper block 54 rolls along the top of thecylinders 56, the cylinders rotating without moving relative to thelower block 52, because of the non-stick plate 64. And, to bring theassembly back to its rest position when free from the influence of thecar, the springs 58 are provided.

If it is discovered that a given railway car exerts an unusually highlevel of force on the roll limiter 50 (FIG. 6), means may be providedfor cushioning the initial impact of the car and thus cushioning theforces exerted on the resilient members of the coupler. Such anembodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 7.

In FIG. 7, an alternate configuration of the limiter illustrated in FIG.6 is shown generally at 70. The limiter 70 comprises a lower block ofresilient material 72, an upper block of material 74, a plurality ofsteel cylinders 76 and a set of biasing springs 78. The assembly ismounted on a truck of a railway car by means of a mounting plate 80.Then, serving as initial shock absorbers, are a pair of coil springs 82attached between the mounting plate 80 and an upper impact plate 84.

The operation of the roll limiter 70 of FIG. 7 is as follows. When therailway car contacts the impact plate 84, the shock absorbing coilsprings 82 cushion the initial impact of the car. Then, through themeans of the impact plate 84 and the resilient blocks 72 and 74, withtheir associated set of cylinders 76, the shock of the car is furthercushioned. At the same time, a maximum allowable roll angle is defined.Horizontal movement between the car and its associated trucks takesplace in a manner similar to that described with reference to FIG. 6.

If it is found that the limiter of FIG. 7, as described above, fails toadequately cushion the impact of the railway car, one of the blocks ofresilient material may be provided with a plurality of holes 86. In FIG.7, the holes 86 are shown in the block 74. These holes add to theresiliency of the upper block of resilient material and, in this manner,reduce the danger of damage to the resilient blocks and, at the sametime, cushion the impact of the car from the standpoint of the cargo orfrom the standpoint of the passenger.

Above, there have been described several embodiments of the presentinvention, these embodiments being described only for the purpose ofillustration. However, numerous equivalents may be embodied withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It is theintent, therefore, that the present invention not be limited by theabove but be limited only as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. For use with a railway car provided with conventional trucks havingtrack-engaging wheels for supporting the railway car and for guiding thesame along a set of tracks, a roll limiting device for allowing therailway car to freely roll about a roll axis up to a predetermined rollangle and to then abruptly limit the roll to that angle, while allowingrelative motion, in a horizontal plane, between the railway car and itstrucks when the car traverses curves, the roll limiting devicecomprising: shock absorbing coil spring means; mounting means forattaching said spring means to a truck of a railway car; impact padmeans associated with said spring means and serving to transmit forcesfrom the rolling car to the spring means, said impact pad means beingspaced from said railway car when the car is in repose so as to allowthe car to freely roll up to said predetermined roll angle; and cushionmeans intermediate the individual coils of said spring means forisolating each coil from its neighboring coils, the roll limiting devicebeing constructed in such a manner so as to approximate a substantiallysolid post-like structure when impacted by the rolling railway car whilehaving the capability of allowing relative motion between the car andits trucks even when the car is in positive contact with the rolllimiting device.

2. The device recited in claim 1, wherein said cushion means takes theform of a solid block of rubber-like material positioned within the bodyof said spring means and having thread-like extensions at the peripherythereof for mating with the coils of said spring means so as to isolateeach coil from its neighboring coils.

3. The device defined in claim 1, wherein said cushion means takes theform of a rubber-like material coating each coil of said spring means soas to isolate each coil from its neighboring coils.

4. For use with a railway car provided with conventional trucks havingtrack-engaging wheels for supporting the railway car and for guiding thesame along a set of tracks, a roll limiting device for allowing therailway car to freely roll about a roll axis up to a predetermined rollangle and to then abruptly limit the roll to that angle, while allowingrelative motion, in a horizontal plane, between the railway car and itstrucks when the car traverses curves, the roll limiting devicecomprising: cushion means in the form of a block of strong, resilientrubber-like material, said cushion means being. spaced from said railwaycar when the car is in repose so as to allow the car to freely roll upto said predetermined roll angle; mounting means for affixing saidcushion means to a truck of a railway car; and at least one boreextending through the body of said cushion means, said at least one boreserving both to increase the resiliency of said block of material and toallow the surface of said material remote from said mounting means tomove parallel to the surface of said material adjacent said mountingmeans, such parallel movement allowing the railway car to move, in ahorizontal plane, relative to its trucks, even when the car is inpositive contact with the roll limiting device.

5. The device described in claim 4, wherein a single relatively largebore is provided in the central region of said block of cushionmaterial.

6. The device recited in claim 4, wherein a plurality of bores arescattered entirely throughout the body of said block of cushionmaterial.

7. The device recited in claim 6, wherein said plurality of bores are ofapproximately the same diameter.

8. The device recited in claim 6, wherein said bores extend from onewall of said block to an opposite wall thereof and are oriented so as toextend parallel to the plane of the tracks and transverse to thedirection of travel of the railway car.

9. For use with a railway car provided with conventional trucks havingtrack-engaging wheels for supporting the railway car and for guiding thesame along a set of tracks, a roll limiting device for allowing therailway car to freely roll about a roll axis up to a predetermined rollangle and to then abruptly limit the roll to that angle, while allowingrelative motion, in a horizontal plane, between the railway car and itstrucks when the car traverses curves, the roll limiting devicecomprising: a first block of resilient cushion material; a second blockof resilient cushion material; mounting means for securing said firstblock of cushion material to the truck of a railway car; means forbiasing said first and said second blocks of cushion material toward oneanother and into a predetermined rest position, with said rest positionbeing such that said second block of cushion material is spaced fromsaid railway car when the car is in repose so as to allow the car tofreely roll up to said predetermined roll angle; and spacer meanspositioned between said first and said second blocks of resilientcushion material, said spacer means contacting only a portion of each ofthe adjacent surfaces of said blocks and serving both for spacing saidblocks from one another and for allowing relative motion between saidfirst and said second blocks of resilient cushion material.

10. The device recited in claim 9, wherein the adjacent surfaces of saidfirst and said second blocks of resilient cushion material are planar.

11. The device described in claim 10, wherein said spacer means takesthe form of a plurality of cylinders, the axis of each lying parallel tothe planes of said first and said second blocks of resilient cushionmaterial.

12. The device recited in claim 11, wherein the axis of each of saidcylinders lies parallel to the plane of said tracks and transverse tothe direction of travel of the railway car.

13. The device recited in claim 12,, wherein said first block ofresilient cushion material is provided with a plurality of depressionsequal in number to the number of spacing cylinders, the shape andposition of said depressions being such that each cylinder comfortablyrests in a corresponding depression.

14. The device recited in claim 13, and further comprising: guide platemeans intermediate each of said spacing cylinders and its associateddepression for allowing free rotation of said cylinders and forpreventing translation between said cylinders and said first block ofresilient cushion material.

15. The device recited in claim 1.4, wherein said biasing means takesthe form of a plurality of springs urging said first and said secondblocks of resilient cushion material toward one another.

16. The device recited in claim 9, and further comprising: impact platemeans associated with said second block of resilient cushion material onthe side thereof remote from said spacer means; and shock absorber meansfor absorbing portions of the shocks developed by impact from therailway car, thus reducing the shocks experienced by said first andsecond blocks of cushion material.

17. The device recited in claim 16, wherein said shock absorbing meansis in the form of at least. two coil springs.

18. The device described in claim 17, wherein said second block ofresilient cushion material is, at least in part, provided with aluralitypf bores through the body thereof.

19. e device recited in claim 16, wherein the adjacent surfaces of saidfirst and second blocks of resilient cushion material are planar;wherein said spacer means is in the form of a plurality of cylinderswhose axes lie parallel to the plane of said tracks and transverse tothe direction of travel of the railway car.

20. The device recited in claim 19, wherein said first block ofresilient cushion material is provided with a plurality of depressionsequal in number to the number of spacing cylinders, the shape andposition of said depressions being such that each cylinder comfortablyresides in one of said depressions.

21. The device recited in claim 20, and further comprising: guide platemeans intermediate each cylinder and its associated depression, saidguide plates allowing free rotation of said cylinders about their axeswhile preventing translation of said cylinders with respect to saidfirst resilient cushion plate.

1. For use with a railway car provided with conventional trucks havingtrack-engaging wheels for supporting the railway car and for guiding thesame along a set of tracks, a roll limiting device for allowing therailway car to freely roll about a roll axis up to a predetermined rollangle and to then abruptly limit the roll to that angle, while allowingrelative motion, in a horizontal plane, between the railway car and itstrucks when the car traverses curves, the roll limiting devicecomprising: shock absorbing coil spring means; mounting means forattaching said spring means to a truck of a railway car; impact padmeans associated with said spring means and serving to transmit forcesfrom the rolling car to the spring means, said impact pad means beingspaced from said railway car when the car is in repose so as to allowthe car to freely roll up to said predetermined roll angle; and cushionmeans intermediate the individual coils of said spring means forisolating each coil from its neighboring coils, the roll limiting devicebeing constructed in such a manner so as to approximate a substantiallysolid post-like structure when impacted by the rolling railway car whilehaving the capability of allowing relative motion between tHe car andits trucks even when the car is in positive contact with the rolllimiting device.
 2. The device recited in claim 1, wherein said cushionmeans takes the form of a solid block of rubber-like material positionedwithin the body of said spring means and having thread-like extensionsat the periphery thereof for mating with the coils of said spring meansso as to isolate each coil from its neighboring coils.
 3. The devicedefined in claim 1, wherein said cushion means takes the form of arubber-like material coating each coil of said spring means so as toisolate each coil from its neighboring coils.
 4. For use with a railwaycar provided with conventional trucks having track-engaging wheels forsupporting the railway car and for guiding the same along a set oftracks, a roll limiting device for allowing the railway car to freelyroll about a roll axis up to a predetermined roll angle and to thenabruptly limit the roll to that angle, while allowing relative motion,in a horizontal plane, between the railway car and its trucks when thecar traverses curves, the roll limiting device comprising: cushion meansin the form of a block of strong, resilient rubber-like material, saidcushion means being spaced from said railway car when the car is inrepose so as to allow the car to freely roll up to said predeterminedroll angle; mounting means for affixing said cushion means to a truck ofa railway car; and at least one bore extending through the body of saidcushion means, said at least one bore serving both to increase theresiliency of said block of material and to allow the surface of saidmaterial remote from said mounting means to move parallel to the surfaceof said material adjacent said mounting means, such parallel movementallowing the railway car to move, in a horizontal plane, relative to itstrucks, even when the car is in positive contact with the roll limitingdevice.
 5. The device described in claim 4, wherein a single relativelylarge bore is provided in the central region of said block of cushionmaterial.
 6. The device recited in claim 4, wherein a plurality of boresare scattered entirely throughout the body of said block of cushionmaterial.
 7. The device recited in claim 6, wherein said plurality ofbores are of approximately the same diameter.
 8. The device recited inclaim 6, wherein said bores extend from one wall of said block to anopposite wall thereof and are oriented so as to extend parallel to theplane of the tracks and transverse to the direction of travel of therailway car.
 9. For use with a railway car provided with conventionaltrucks having track-engaging wheels for supporting the railway car andfor guiding the same along a set of tracks, a roll limiting device forallowing the railway car to freely roll about a roll axis up to apredetermined roll angle and to then abruptly limit the roll to thatangle, while allowing relative motion, in a horizontal plane, betweenthe railway car and its trucks when the car traverses curves, the rolllimiting device comprising: a first block of resilient cushion material;a second block of resilient cushion material; mounting means forsecuring said first block of cushion material to the truck of a railwaycar; means for biasing said first and said second blocks of cushionmaterial toward one another and into a predetermined rest position, withsaid rest position being such that said second block of cushion materialis spaced from said railway car when the car is in repose so as to allowthe car to freely roll up to said predetermined roll angle; and spacermeans positioned between said first and said second blocks of resilientcushion material, said spacer means contacting only a portion of each ofthe adjacent surfaces of said blocks and serving both for spacing saidblocks from one another and for allowing relative motion between saidfirst and said second blocks of resilient cushion material.
 10. Thedevice recited in claim 9, wherein the adjacEnt surfaces of said firstand said second blocks of resilient cushion material are planar.
 11. Thedevice described in claim 10, wherein said spacer means takes the formof a plurality of cylinders, the axis of each lying parallel to theplanes of said first and said second blocks of resilient cushionmaterial.
 12. The device recited in claim 11, wherein the axis of eachof said cylinders lies parallel to the plane of said tracks andtransverse to the direction of travel of the railway car.
 13. The devicerecited in claim 12, wherein said first block of resilient cushionmaterial is provided with a plurality of depressions equal in number tothe number of spacing cylinders, the shape and position of saiddepressions being such that each cylinder comfortably rests in acorresponding depression.
 14. The device recited in claim 13, andfurther comprising: guide plate means intermediate each of said spacingcylinders and its associated depression for allowing free rotation ofsaid cylinders and for preventing translation between said cylinders andsaid first block of resilient cushion material.
 15. The device recitedin claim 14, wherein said biasing means takes the form of a plurality ofsprings urging said first and said second blocks of resilient cushionmaterial toward one another.
 16. The device recited in claim 9, andfurther comprising: impact plate means associated with said second blockof resilient cushion material on the side thereof remote from saidspacer means; and shock absorber means for absorbing portions of theshocks developed by impact from the railway car, thus reducing theshocks experienced by said first and second blocks of cushion material.17. The device recited in claim 16, wherein said shock absorbing meansis in the form of at least two coil springs.
 18. The device described inclaim 17, wherein said second block of resilient cushion material is, atleast in part, provided with a plurality of bores through the bodythereof.
 19. The device recited in claim 16, wherein the adjacentsurfaces of said first and second blocks of resilient cushion materialare planar; wherein said spacer means is in the form of a plurality ofcylinders whose axes lie parallel to the plane of said tracks andtransverse to the direction of travel of the railway car.
 20. The devicerecited in claim 19, wherein said first block of resilient cushionmaterial is provided with a plurality of depressions equal in number tothe number of spacing cylinders, the shape and position of saiddepressions being such that each cylinder comfortably resides in one ofsaid depressions.
 21. The device recited in claim 20, and furthercomprising: guide plate means intermediate each cylinder and itsassociated depression, said guide plates allowing free rotation of saidcylinders about their axes while preventing translation of saidcylinders with respect to said first resilient cushion plate.